Ed’s comment – February Bugle

There is nothing like personal experience to bring home the true impact of major events on our lives. As we enter February and this phase of our fight to beat the virus, it’s put into perspective by borrowing a phrase from Churchill, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

The first personal experience was the decision by the Bugle team to suspend printing the January and February Bugle, the first time since it was established in November 1990. A sad and difficult decision given what it takes to produce the Bugle. Even though we now have the printer housed in Chamberlin Hall which collates, folds and staples, it still takes from 9.00 in the morning until 5.30 in the afternoon to print them all. We normally work in pairs on a rota through the day, finish the folding and bag them up before handing them over to the wonderful
team of deliverers. Given the need to stay indoors, social distance and not put anyone at risk we had no alternative. We are very grateful for the digital version on the village website but fully appreciate not all our villagers have access to the internet. We hope to be back printing the Bugle as soon as possible.

The mass vaccination roll out continues. I drove my 95 year old father-in-law to East Bergholt Constable Country Health Centre for his vaccination. We were not the only ones from Bildeston in that priority group, who had agreed to travel there for the jab. It was very well organised, even though the day was blighted by awful weather, bitterly cold and driving rain and the most elderly, and some infirm, of our community queued outside. Days later it was my turn. Again, along with many others from Bildeston, vaccinated at East Bergholt. The whole experience has been very good indeed, with excellent service from our own Health Centre staff and superb organisation at Constable Country Health Centre. Seeing the mass vaccination at local level brings home the dedication, expertise and professionalism of the NHS staff supported so well by an army of local volunteers.

Heartfelt thanks to you all.

At the other end of the age scale, I helped remote learning for my youngest grandchildren. Perhaps more hindrance than help! Complete days of school lessons planned and delivered by teachers working from home, leading ‘Zoom’ meetings with classes of children. A day in an infant classroom is hard work at the best of times, emotionally and physically, to replicate that on line is quite a task.

The work that has gone into helping to make sure our children do not lose their natural curiosity for learning, is astonishing and we need to pay tribute to all the teachers working from home whilst trying to retain a sense of what it would be like if the children were in their classroom with their teacher. Not every child’s remote learning experience has been so positive. The system relies on each child having access to a decent device and then quality experiences being planned
and delivered on a consistent basis. The ones I saw, from a teacher who lives in Bildeston, were very good indeed.